Two excellent pitching match-ups tonight, with Halladay/Wang in New York, also at 7 PM.

The big question: Can (or Will) the battling Blue Jays, now officially eliminated from the wild card race, roll over for the Yankees? On their off-day yesterday, the team announced Vernon Wells is done for the season and will have shoulder surgery. Since Wells struggled to keep his OBP above .300 since mid-June (and he slugged .202 over the last 28 days), his absence may actually help Toronto's chances for victory. But still -- Eff you, Ricciardi.

Enjoy the game tonight, folks. I will be otherwise occupied, hoping that my atoning for my various sins will help the team. Not that I think there is ANY connection, but one can always hope. I hope Beckett cruises to number 20 and that the sleepy bats wake up. Have fun!

"oh let the sun beat down upon my face" is going for his 14th win, which would tie a Devil Rays record with--Rolando Arrojo! Can you believe that man holds a record?

"Bobby Kielty is 8 for 19 against Kazmir with 2 dongs."

Okay, this might take a lot of research if somebody wants to do it. I'm never a fan of placing a non-starter into the lineup based on how he does against a pitcher for this reason: Maybe all his hits were either as a pinch-hitter, or at the very least, when he was a regular in some other team's lineup. A guy going in knowing he's there strictly because he's fared well against that night's pitcher is a different guy than the one who snuck in a few hits against him in the past. And maybe if the pitcher sees the guy 4 times in a game, he does better against him.

So if anyone wants to look up the way average hitters who hit way above their average against great pitchers do against them as pinch hitters vs. how they do in games where they face them 4 times, go ahead.

So I'm glad Ortiz is in the lineup against Kazmir. I'd rather have him in the lineup than not. And Kielty, I'd have just kept him ready on the bench, knowing he's perfectly capable of hitting Kazmir, as opposed to altering our lineup because of it.

Anything under 50 PAs is a small sample size and even with 51-100 AB (which would cover many years seasons in which both hitter and pitcher could change their ways of doing their jobs), luck can cause wild fluctuations -- a shitty .200 hitter could easily hit .450 against a light-out ace based solely on luck and random chance.

Exactly why we shouldn't be basing our starting lineup on stuff like this. If our lineup can be changed because a guy is like 4-9 against somebody, that's wrong to me.

And besides PH at bats, I'm just saying, a guy starts racking up totals on another guy not because they specifically put him in to face that guy. Once they start doing that, I'm guessing the guy starts coming down to Earth in most cases.

I'm watching Seinfeld, the Chinese Restaurant episode. I wish someone had dared me to eat off someone's plate while waiting for a table, when I was much younger. I might have done it and had a great story from it.

What a great episode this is. Almost as good as my all-time fave, the Parking Garage.

Hey, I was just on that page! Surprised I didn't run into you there (:

And about Yom Kippur- technically I should be, but as much as I like the idea of the day (and Yom Kippur in my hometown is one of the most special days I've seen), I don't 'celebrate' it when I'm abroad.

"And about Yom Kippur- technically I should be, but as much as I like the idea of the day (and Yom Kippur in my hometown is one of the most special days I've seen), I don't 'celebrate' it when I'm abroad."

I "should" be as I am Jewish, but I don't observe anymore (out of choice, not laziness). Yom Kippur was always my absolute least favourite holiday. I miss Passover, but I do not miss The Day of Atonement.

Heh, that "should" really did stand out, I guess... I live in Jerusalem. On Yom Kippur, there are no cars anywhere (besides emergency vehicles), everyone's walking on the streets and roads, everyone's out (or at least it feels that way)... all the kids go biking and rollerblading on the city's main roads... just a special atmosphere.

They're auctioning a bullpen session with James Shields, BP with Carlos Pena, a couple of other things, and... the Ted Williams Experience. Guess that's what you do when you don't have a history of your own.

1.Pitchng Lessons with James Shields2. Batting Practice w/ Carlos Pena3. Ted Williams Experience4. International Baseball Experience5. Be a Star for a Day

Ted Williams Experience includes autographed ball, private tour of Hitters Hall of Fame Museum, 2 tix to rays-sox game at tropicana field, 2 tix to rays-sox game in fenway on field for bp, includes air and hotel - Current Bid $2700

hey all. a while back my cable suddenly gave out. I turned on my laptop, but for some reason GDGD won't pop up for me...so I was w/o a game. Emma and I played a coupla of hot-action rounds of Uno. Now we have TV, but I missed all the crazy action.

Emma wants to play another game. I can do any 2 of 1) watch the game on TV 2) catch up on this thread and 3) play uno.....so I'll see ya later.

hey all. a while back my cable suddenly gave out. I turned on my laptop, but for some reason GDGD won't pop up for me...so I was w/o a game. Emma and I played a coupla of hot-action rounds of Uno. Now we have TV, but I missed all the crazy action.

Emma wants to play another game. I can do any 2 of 1) watch the game on TV 2) catch up on this thread and 3) play uno.....so I'll see ya later.